Independent Prescribing

The Supplementary Prescribing Course for pharmacists began in 2003 and when legislation changed in 2006 to enable independent pharmacy prescribing, the course was revised and is now known as the Independent Prescribing Course. Students who successfully complete the course are qualified as supplementary and independent prescribers.

This course (Post Graduate Certificate level) is divided into four modules and runs over a ten-month period. It includes 12 days’ learning in practice, the purpose of which is to enable the student to transfer their learning from the theory element of the course and to develop and practise clinical examination skills relevant to the condition(s) for which they intend to prescribe. The pharmacist may complete their learning in practice at any point during the ten-month period.

To be eligible for acceptance onto the course, pharmacists must have been practising for at least two years post registration and, in addition, must complete the:

• Confirmation of Eligibility form - To ensure that the most suitable pharmacists apply for and are accepted onto the course.
• Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) agreement- When you have identified a suitable DPP, both you and the DPP must sign the agreement.
• Learning Agreement – this must be signed by you, your DPP, your employer and by NICPLD.

Pharmacists should have support from their employer to undertake the course in order to attend the live workshops and the 12 days learning in practice.

Please note that the course takes place once per year and that all places on the course which was due to begin in March 2020 (Cohort 14) have been allocated. As explained above, the start date of Cohort 14 has been postponed due to coronavirus.

The next Cohort (Cohort 15) would normally be due to start March/April 2021and the applications/information for that cohort would be made available in the summer of 2020. This is all dependent on the current situation around coronavirus and so this will be kept under review.